# Pixl

> Pixl is a boutique WordPress agency in Malaysia that has been building and caring for websites since 2009. Its services span web development, web upgrades, and support and management, alongside its own managed WordPress VPS hosting.

## Main pages

- [Pixl](https://pixl.my/): Homepage. A boutique WordPress agency in Malaysia building and caring for websites since 2009, offering web development, web upgrades, and support and management.
- [Pixl VPS Hosting](https://pixl.my/hosting/): Managed WordPress VPS hosting, five plans from RM99 to RM720 a month, on Vultr High Frequency compute managed through RunCloud, with Nginx tuned for WordPress, server-side page caching, SSL renewed automatically, and a hardened firewall with WAF rules on every plan.
- [Blog](https://pixl.my/blog/): Notes from seventeen years of building and hosting WordPress.

## Guides and tutorials

- [How to connect Novamira via OAuth](https://pixl.my/blog/how-to-connect-novamira-via-oauth/): Claude Code fails to connect to a WordPress site via Novamira OAuth when Nginx 404s the OAuth discovery endpoints. Two location blocks fix it.
- [How to switch Chrome Remote Desktop on and off in Windows](https://pixl.my/blog/how-to-switch-chrome-remote-desktop-on-and-off-in-windows/): Chrome Remote Desktop keeps a background service running on your PC at all times, listening for incoming connections even when Chrome is closed.
- [Switching to a new computer? Here's how to transfer Claude Desktop to the new PC](https://pixl.my/blog/switching-to-a-new-computer-heres-how-to-transfer-claude-desktop-to-the-new-pc/): Moving Claude Desktop to a new PC: what actually carries over, which folders to copy, and the checklist to run before wiping the old machine.
- [How to Schedule Automatic Server Restarts on your Gridpane Linux server](https://pixl.my/blog/how-to-schedule-automatic-server-restarts-on-your-gridpane-linux-server/): Most tech issues can be solved with a simple device reset. Here's how to set a weekly auto-restart as simple maintenance for Linux servers.
- [How to access the database remotely for Gridpane users](https://pixl.my/blog/how-to-access-the-database-remotely-for-gridpane-users/): If you're on Gridpane's Panel or Free plans, you can't give database access to a third party. Here's how you can do it with Adminer in under 10 mins.
- [Booster for WooCommerce no longer a bloaty mess in 2023?](https://pixl.my/blog/is-booster-for-woocommerce-a-buster-for-your-e-commerce-site-2023-update/): We re-ran Simplenet's 2019 Booster for WooCommerce bloat test in 2023: autoload options and query counts, before and after. The result surprised us.
- [Off-site backups are worth thousands of dollars](https://pixl.my/blog/off-site-backups-are-worth-thousands-of-dollars/): On 10 March 2021, OVH had a datacentre fire that took thousands of websites down for good. Off-site backups are what save you from that day.
- [Fix: Elementor Single Product layout problem with too many add-on fields](https://pixl.my/blog/fix-elementor-single-product-layout-problem-with-too-many-add-on-fields/): Too many WooCommerce add-on fields break Elementor's Add To Cart layout. A few lines of flex-wrap CSS fix it.
- [How to check folder sizes in Gridpane](https://pixl.my/blog/how-to-check-folder-sizes-in-gridpane/): m/monit tells you nothing more than the total used in parent folders. But which website is taking up all that space?
- [How NOT to lose track of what day it is when working alone](https://pixl.my/blog/how-not-to-lose-track-of-what-day-it-is-when-working-alone/): Have you ever just lived through the week, not realising what day it is? Add the Day of the Week to your Windows taskbar in less than 5 mins!
- [A layman's intro to common internet caches, and how to clear them](https://pixl.my/blog/a-laymans-intro-to-common-internet-caches-and-how-to-clear-them/): "Clearing the cache" is a magical solution that fixes most problems with page loads. But what's a cache anyway?
- [FIXED: wp_options table is HUGE for no reason!](https://pixl.my/blog/fixed-wp_options-table-is-huge-for-no-reason/): You've cleared revisions, transients, optimised & repaired your database, NOTHING WORKS and your database is still >10GB. Sound familiar?
- [How to solve the Caldera Forms "invalid token" problem](https://pixl.my/blog/how-to-solve-the-caldera-forms-invalid-token-problem/): Caldera Forms throws an invalid token error when your page cache outlives the WordPress nonce. Set cache expiry under 12 hours to fix it.
- [[Fixed] Social Login 403 Forbidden error on Gridpane sites/servers](https://pixl.my/blog/fixed-social-login-403-forbidden-error-on-gridpane-sites-servers/): If you're trying to implement Social Login capability on your website that is hosted on Gridpane, chances are you may encounter a 403 Forbidden error. The solution is simple!
- [How to enable cronjobs on Gridpane](https://pixl.my/blog/how-to-enable-cronjobs-on-gridpane/): Cronjobs are disabled on GridPane by default. One gp CLI command turns them on; here it is, plus the access you need first.
- [Why we retracted our MXRoute-to-Gmail forwarding guide (and what to do instead)](https://pixl.my/blog/how-to-redirect-mail-from-mxroute-to-gmail-elsewhere/): Our old Roundcube filter-forwarding tutorial violated MXRoute's ToS and skipped SRS. Here's their retraction and the two methods that actually work.
- [How to give limited access to developers in Gridpane](https://pixl.my/blog/how-to-give-limited-access-to-developers-in-gridpane/): The GridPane knowledgebase can be quite technical and intimidating. Here's a simple summary of the steps required to allow your developer to access sites in GP.
- [How to send transactional emails via MXRoute & WP SMTP](https://pixl.my/blog/how-to-send-transactional-emails-via-mxroute-wp-smtp/): Six steps to send WordPress transactional email through MXRoute with WP Mail SMTP: mailbox, plugin settings, wp-config, SPF and DKIM, then a mail-tester check.
- [Fix: Google Analytics not tracking traffic even though fully authenticated with Analytify](https://pixl.my/blog/fix-google-analytics-not-tracking-traffic-even-though-fully-authenticated-with-analytify/): A cloned WordPress site kept reporting to the wrong Google Analytics property. The stale measurement ID was hiding in the database. Here is the fix.
- [How to create a Share With WhatsApp link for email (mobile/desktop compatible)](https://pixl.my/blog/how-to-create-a-share-with-whatsapp-link-mobile-desktop-compatible/): Here's how to create a single simple link that people can click to share a custom link with predefined content (text, links, formatting, etc!) on Whatsapp.
- [[SOLVED] WOOF Product Filter conflict with Elementor](https://pixl.my/blog/solved-woof-product-filter-conflict-with-elementor/): Is your Elementor builder not working due to a plugin conflict with WOOF Product Filter? Code provided not working? Here's the solution, it's super simple.
- [This is what happens when you don't have fake user antispam protection](https://pixl.my/blog/this-is-what-happens-when-you-dont-have-fake-user-antispam/): Make sure your WordPress WooCommerce site has proper antispam measures in place. Once fake users pile up, it's very hard to remove them all.
- [How to implement SSL without using a plugin](https://pixl.my/blog/how-to-implement-ssl-without-using-a-plugin/): If you're using WordPress, skip the SSL plugin. Follow these steps to implement SSL the proper way without slowing down your website.
- [Solving the weird pop-up when you try to access wp-admin](https://pixl.my/blog/solving-the-weird-pop-up-when-you-try-to-access-wp-admin/): If a weird login pop-up appears when you try to access /wp-admin and your regular WordPress password does not work, here is what it is and the way past it.
- [Too many redirects after switching to HTTPS](https://pixl.my/blog/too-many-redirects-after-switching-to-https/): Cloudflare's Flexible SSL mode causes a redirect loop after switching WordPress to HTTPS. Switch to Full (Strict), or tell WordPress it's behind a proxy.
- [WordPress website loading gibberish text? Here's how to solve it](https://pixl.my/blog/website-loading-gibberish-text-heres-how-to-solve-it/): A WordPress site that renders as gibberish when logged out is usually double compression: your host's zlib plus a plugin's GZip. Turn one of them off.
- [How to create a pop-up/modal contact form using Caldera Forms](https://pixl.my/blog/how-to-create-a-pop-up-modal-contact-form-using-caldera-forms/): Caldera's own guide isn't around any more. Here's how I built a pop-up modal contact form using a Caldera Forms button, back when the plugin was still active.
- [Ultimate VC Addons - Disable modules & Google Fonts to reduce database bloat](https://pixl.my/blog/ultimate-vc-addons-disable-modules-google-fonts-to-reduce-database-bloat/): Ultimate Addons is convenient to add nicer-looking elements into your VC-built website, but it's a huge resource drain. Here's how to optimise it.
- [How to use the 'wget' SSH command to transfer large files between servers](https://pixl.my/blog/how-to-use-the-wget-ssh-command-to-transfer-large-files-between-servers/): Skip the download-and-reupload cycle: use wget over SSH to pull large files straight from the old server to the new one.
- [How to upload into cPanel from a 3rd party URL](https://pixl.my/blog/how-to-upload-into-cpanel-from-a-3rd-party-url/): A tiny upload.php script lets your new server pull a zipped site straight from a URL, bypassing your own internet connection entirely.

## Design articles

Design writing bylined to Alsie Chiang.

- [All About Colors: Chromatic Value](https://pixl.my/blog/aac-chromatic-value/): Chromatic value is the lightness or darkness of a colour, and it does more for legibility and hierarchy than hue does. Tints, shades and the squint test.
- [What Is Screen Resolution?](https://pixl.my/blog/screen-resolution/): What screen resolution actually means, why the old 960px rule is dead, and how fluid layouts and breakpoints handle today's screens.
- [What Makes A Poor Design?](https://pixl.my/blog/what-makes-a-poor-design/): Have you ever been on a site where you feel reluctant to close the tab straight away? What about websites that urge you to head for the x mark within seconds?

## Company notes (historical)

Older announcement posts kept for the record; some describe plans or servers Pixl has since retired.

- [The rabbit hole that is Wordpress Web Hosting](https://pixl.my/blog/the-rabbit-hole-that-is-wordpress-web-hosting/): At Pixl, we're always on the lookout for THE best hosting provider that's damn fast yet doesn't cost a bomb. After 9 years, I believe we've found it.
- [Announcing our new Site Care plans](https://pixl.my/blog/announcing-our-new-site-care-plans/): The 2019 announcement of Pixl's two Site Care maintenance plans. Kept as a historical record; see our current services for today's offering.
- [Announcing our new Stratos server, and retiring our Shared Hosting plan](https://pixl.my/blog/announcing-our-new-stratos-server-and-retiring-our-shared-hosting-plan/): Update: We no longer host websites internally, and have retired our Stratos & Turbo servers. Read: The rabbit hole that is WordPress Web Hosting
- [Which web hosting option should you pick?](https://pixl.my/blog/which-web-hosting-option-should-you-pick/): WordPress web hosting is a complicated subject. Which host should you sign up with? Pixl is not a web hosting company so here's our unbiased answer.

## Contact

michael@pixl.my